Uncovering Ianto
by minimumstitch
Summary: Jack resorts to desperate measures to get Ianto to drop his facade.


1.

Jack hated invading Ianto's privacy, but the young man had left him no choice. He had tried including him in team activities but every invititation was politely rebuffed. He had tried provoking a reaction but flirting, harrassment and downright awkwardness did nothing to remove the Welshman's polite facade. He knew that he shouldn't be doing this but he could see no other way to discover the young man behind the facade. If it had just been Ianto, then perhaps Jack would not be so insistent to find out what made the Welshman tick, but Ianto's silence and blank politeness was threatening the harmony of the whole team. Owen was taking delight in tormenting the young man which in turn was causing arguments between him and Gwen when the former policeman stood up for the quiet young man and Tosh was shrinking into the background, trying not to get caught in the crossfire.

Jack monitored the CCTV morning 'til night looking for inconsistencies, any small fragments of humanity which others would overlook as insignificant but which he knew held the key to discovering the true Ianto. He tracked down songs from fragments hummed quietly when no-one else was around, searched through bins trying to find any clues; empty sweetie wrappers and discarded personal receipts, stooping so low as to search through his locker searching out books that had been carefully placed out of sight. He listened in to one-sided conversations which took place when no other human was there to witness the removal of the carefully built up disguise.

*

When Ianto discovered the packet of sweets hidden under a pile of files sitting on his desk waiting to be archived he put it down to a lapse in concentration and resolved not to leave his belongings out in the future.

A few days later, he was cleaning out the SUV after the team's latest exploits. Normally he would start the cleaning in silence, occasionally humming quietly to himself when the silence became too oppressive. He would last 5 minutes before succumbing to the need to silence the thoughts in his head and play the SUV CD of the day. Each member of the team was given a day in which their choice of music would be played; no matter how bad, it was it was forbidden to criticise the music choice. Ianto dreaded Gwen's day as silence would almost be preferable to hearing Abba's greatest hits coming joyfully through the speakers. Owen's taste was eclectic, normally a new choice each time (Ianto suspected he was experimenting on Gwen and Tosh to find the most effective seduction music), Tosh usually chose something soft and gentle which could easily have dragged Ianto into a depression if he actually stopped to listen to the soulfully sung lyrics, while Jack's musical tastes seemed to have stopped evolving in the 1940's and usually involved Glen Miller, Vera Lynn etc ... The only person not on the rota was Ianto himself as he was seldom in the field (or that had been his protestation when Jack had queried why his name was not on the rota).

Today, when he switched the CD player on the deep, rich, throaty sound of BB King sounded from the speakers. The song that was playing was one he had been humming earlier when feeding Janet. It was Jack's day to choose the SUV CD and Ianto wondered whether he had swapped with one of the others as it was not the sort of thing he would voluntarily listen to.

*

Jack smiled softly to himself when Ianto discovered the sweets on his desk and sighed when he carefully concealed them in the depths of his drawer. When he watched the replay of the CCTV of Ianto cleaning the SUV he chuckled when he saw the music slowly strip away Ianto's careful facade and leave a young man, shaking his ass in time to the beat of the music and joining BB in song.

He knew then that he was on the right track, but he had to discover a way to make Ianto reveal himself to the others. It was all very well that he show his true character when he was alone, but he needed to make him let the others see the true Ianto, not the automaton he was becoming.

He would have to start slowly to prevent the young man becoming suspicious, otherwise his plan would backfire and he would lose Ianto altogether, and with him the team. It made Jack angry that Ianto couldn't see that he was the lynchpin of the group. Without Ianto the team would fall apart, he moved silently through their working lives, gently reassuring them and lightening their workload. He doubted the others realised that Ianto worked almost double their hours and shouldered the work of at least 2 men, but they soon would if Jack's plan worked.

Jack smirked when he thought of his team's reactions to their workload increasing.

*

Ianto found the bag of Starbursts sitting on the SUV seat and wondered if anyone would notice if they disappeared. The lime sweets were his favourite and he usually had a couple in his pocket for moments when he needed a lift. The tangy burst on his tongue always had him salivating and he missed the feeling as he had not had time to replace his stash (although he still had a large bag full of the other flavours left). In the end his conscience won and he made the decision to ask the others if they belonged to them. He started with Tosh.

"Tosh", he began hesitantly, Tosh gave a start and began to laugh, "God Ianto, you made me jump, what's up?" As soon as she spoke she realised it was the wrong thing to say and her fears were reaffirmed by Ianto's downcast look.

"Um, I found these in the SUV and wondered if they were yours?" he said softly.

"No, but I love the red ones. I say that if they were left in the SUV then its finders-keepers, especially if you share with me." Tosh gave a small, hopeful smile in Ianto's direction.

Ianto couldn't help but chuckle, "Done, split them with you. If you have the other colours do you mind if I have the green ones? In fact, if I can have the greens I dutifully promise to give you all my red ones from any pack I buy in the future." Tosh considered the request carefully and with a serious look she held out her hand which Ianto shook with equal seriousness. The seriousnessnes only lasted a few moments before they both started to grin.

*

Jack searched the CCTV, tracking Ianto from the moment he found the Starbursts and was relieved that he had been able to predict Ianto's actions so accurately. It was no surprise that he would not just keep the sweets for himself and that he knew the likes and dislikes of his colleagues enough to go to Tosh first.

Since the agreement had been reached Jack frequently found Ianto reaching out to Tosh, albeit surreptitiously. Every time Ianto passed Tosh's desk a red starbust would appear next to her mouse.

*

When Owen found a copy of the latest Andy McNab novel sitting on both his and Ianto's desk he wandered over to the kitchen determined to find out what was going on. "Oi, Teaboy, who left these?"

Ianto schooled his features from annoyance to blank indifference before turning to Owen. "Left them where?"

"On our desks".

Ianto couldn't stop the surprise showing on his face, the books had only just come out that morning and he had been intending to escape the hub to buy a copy that lunch-time. "No idea, have you tried looking through the CCTV?"

Owen grimaced at the thought of having to do any work (even if it was to solve a mystery) "Nah, too much like hard work, don't look a gift horse in the mouth me mam always said, who am I to argue? Anyway, I've been looking forward to this for ages."

Ianto couldn't help the small smirk "You've been looking forward to a book coming out? A book without any pictures of naked women? I didn't think you knew that those kind of books existed".

"Oi, I'll have you know that I'm not just interested in porn; I'm equally interested in big guns and war" Owen stated.

"Ah, of course, sorry to have underestimated your interests, I stand corrected." said Ianto, rolling his eyes.

Owen left the kitchen, clutching his book in one hand and his hot chocolate in the other (it had to be hot chocolate when actually reading instead of just looking at the pictures). As he left he began to chortle; who knew the teaboy could give as good as he got?

*

Jack rolled his eyes, trust it taking a book about war and Ianto insulting Owen for the pair to form a strange, warped form of respect. The rift had been quiet for the past few days and Ianto and Owen had had their heads stuck in their new book, each of them trying to spoil the story for the other by telling Tosh or Gwen loudly what had just caused them to gasp followed by "oops, have you not got to that bit yet?". At the end of each day they left with the refrains of "see ya Teaboy" and "Night Weevil-boy" (Ianto had noticed that Janet had been unusually quiet after Owen had visited her and was showing signs of pining for him, and would not let him forget it).

Jack was at a loss how to bring Gwen and Ianto closer together, there was no obvious overlap in interests and it wasn't as though Gwen had not been trying to get through to Ianto, it was just that Ianto kept pushing her away. In the end he didn't need to do anything, they sorted it out for themselves.

Gwen had taken to staying late at the hub, and was often the last one to leave; barring Ianto. She was obviously itching to ask Ianto something but strangely she was being very hesitant in asking and it was this that made Ianto take matters into his own hands.

Gwen was sitting at her desk staring intently at the screensaver in front of her when Ianto appeared at her side with a cup of coffee and a bar of Divine mint chip chocolate. She smiled and thanked him, then looked shocked when he drew his chair to her desk. "Spit it out Gwen, I know you want to ask me something, this is your one and only chance".

Gwen looked deeply into her coffee as if all the secrets of the world were at the bottom of the mug and then began to talk hesitantly. "How did you do it, Ianto? How did you manage to keep Lisa a secret from all of us? How did you manage to hide how tired you were, how upset you were? I love Rhys and I can't tell him the truth and I am such a bad liar that he knows that I am not being honest with him. I can't avoid him for much longer but I can't see him and not tell him the truth!" Gwen looked at him, tears falling silently down her face; for once her emotions were totally honest and heartbreaking in their purity.

Ianto started to speak "I don't know, Gwen, there were times when I wanted so badly to tell someone, but I was scared, so scared. If I told you, Jack or Owen then reality would set in and my hope would be gone and I wasn't ready for that. I needed to hold on to Lisa, she was my sanity; my reason to keep living, without her there was no reason to go on. I know now that my Lisa died in Canary Wharf, but I wasn't ready to let go. I don't blame Jack for doing what he did, he went about it the wrong way but I understand his reasons." Ianto looked her in the eyes "Torchwood is a blessing and a curse, it gives your life purpose but in exchange it takes away your normality. You have to decide what is more important, lying to Rhys but keeping him safe or telling him the truth and drawing him into our sordid little world full of pain and death. I know which I'd prefer, the question, is which would you?"

Gwen looked at him, really looked at him and saw a man older than his years, broken by life but not defeated yet. She leaned across and kissed him softly, then walked out of the hub back to Rhys.

*

The hub was lively with chatter, Ianto passing out the coffees and joining in with the conversation. It should have made Jack happy and he was but there was still tension in the air. Jack had threatened to kill Ianto and had ordered him to execute his girlfriend, and no amount of bribery with sweets or treats could erase that.

Ianto glanced up at the office and saw Jack watching them wistfully. Ianto looked at the Plas in the CCTV and made up his mind. "Come on, you lot, it's a gorgeous day, the rift is quiet and can wait half an hour."

"Where are we off to?" shouted Owen.

"We are going to play hookie and go and get ice-creams. My treat." Ianto replied. As they trooped up the stairs towards the tourist office he turned "Coming, Sir?" It was a small step but it was a step in the right direction.


End file.
